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Elon MuskBorn in 1971, serial entrepreneur Elon Musk is the world's richest person, with a net worth of more than $800B as of April 2026. Originally from South Africa, Musk has spent most of his life founding and leading tech companies—aside from a short stint in the Trump administration in 2025, leading the advisory body known as the Department of Government Efficiency.
After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997, Musk sold his first company, the city guide software company Zip2, for $305M in 1999. He used his share of the profits to create online banking company X.com, which later became PayPal, starting a pattern of serial entrepreneurship.
His most notable ventures include founding SpaceX (which pioneered reusable rockets and launched thousands of communications satellites into orbit) in 2002 after becoming interested in colonizing Mars, joining electric carmaker Tesla with a $6.5M investment in 2004 before becoming CEO in 2008, and his $44B Twitter acquisition in October 2022 (Musk renamed the social media company X in July 2023).
While critics describe Musk as unempathetic to his employees and accuse him of creating toxic workplace cultures, fans praise his multiple successful companies, engineering breakthroughs, and penchant for innovation and efficiency.Explore Elon Musk
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See a list of all of Elon Musk's known children as of April 2026Although it's possible that these numbers could be larger than the public realizes, as of April 2026, it was believed that Elon Musk had fathered 14 children with four different women. While he has six children with his ex-wife Justine Musk, he has three with the musician Grimes, including a son named X Æ A-12. People.comElon Musk is known to sleep under his desk during intense periods of workThe tech company founder and CEO has a wide variety of leadership principles he has kept consistent while building multiple different companies, including eschewing middle management and using the "idiot index," a formula he uses to identify manufacturing inefficiencies. Founders PodcastRead a list of people Elon Musk has been romantically involved with, including musician GrimesElon Musk shares six children with his ex-wife Justine Musk, who he was married to from 2000 to 2008. He has also dated celebrities, including actresses Amber Heard and Talulah Riley. People.comSee a visual representation Elon Musk's many tweets over a decadeMusk was known for tweeting often long before he purchased Twitter, later renaming the social network "X." One week in August 2024, Elon Musk posted 650 times. This data visualization shows an analysis of roughly 15,000 of his tweets from 2011 to 2021. Visual CapitalistThe Boring Company was created by Elon Musk in 2017While it started out as a subsidiary of SpaceX, the Boring Company became an independent entity in 2018. Musk started it with the aim of helping reduce city traffic via underground tunnels. InvestopediaBorn to a well-off family in South Africa, Elon Musk left for Canada in 1989 before heading to the USMusk was bullied as a child in South Africa, and even recalled being punched in the face, per a recent Walter Isaacson biography on the entrepreneur. CBS NewsSee a timeline of all of Elon Musk's business venturesFrom the software company Zip2 in the 1990s to Musk's Twitter acquisition (which he later renamed X), Elon Musk has run, founded, and invested in many different businesses over the past three decades. TIMEPeter Thiel and Elon Musk formed PayPal after merging two dot-com companiesElon Musk cofounded "X.com," an online banking service, in 1999 with the idea that the web would become a financial repository as internet access expanded and became ingrained in daily life. Peter Thiel cofounded "Confinity" as a digital security service that morphed into a payments system. In 2000, the two merged to form PayPal, and in 2002, they sold PayPal to eBay for $1.5B. TheStreetElon Musk's first company was an online business directory called 'Zip2'Musk started the online alternative to Yellow Pages in 1995 with his younger brother. Musk sold the company for $305M in 1999. CNBCHow Elon Musk's businesses have shaped Texas' Bastrop CountyAfter deadly wildfires in 2011 burned a significant portion of the county, the tech boom in Austin pushed development eastward. Elon Musk has since made the region a key hub of his businesses, including a Tesla gigafactory considered one of the largest factories in the world by volume. Watch this reporter visit the town to hear the pros and cons of the transformation. FaultlineGrokipedia is Elon Musk's rival to WikipediaDeveloped by xAI—a company Musk founded in 2023 to compete with OpenAI and Google—the site features a search bar where users can type in queries, which reports suggest are then answered by the same xAI model powering the Grok chatbot. Grokipedia describes Wikipedia as having "systemic ideological biases" and a "left-leaning slant." PBSHow to visualize the enormous wealth of Elon MuskThe disruptive innovator and founder of SpaceX and Tesla is worth hundreds of billions of dollars, an unimaginable sum. This simple interactive visual uses pixels (representing $1K each) on a scrolling screen to demonstrate the billionaire's wealth compared to other known financial values, like the cost of building a Boeing 777 or the net worth of Tiger Woods. Engaging DataX's brand health has sharply declined since Elon Musk's takeoverSince Musk acquired the platform, impression, quality, and satisfaction scores have all turned negative—reflecting widespread disapproval among former and current users. As of fall 2024, despite the reputational damage, X remains the sixth-most-visited website globally. YouGovX's quirky culture clashed hard with Elon Musk's extreme leadership styleInvestigative journalists have written that social platform X's open, sometimes chaotic workplace stopped when control shifted irreversibly from Jack Dorsey to Elon Musk. They claim the stark contrast in personalities left little protection for existing employees, culture, or users. PlatformerElon Musk reshaped Twitter into X with bold moves and polarizing decisionsWhat began in early 2022 as Musk quietly buying Twitter shares soon escalated into a $44 billion hostile bid to take the company private. When Musk officially took over Twitter, he walked into headquarters carrying a literal kitchen sink, captioning the moment, "Let that sink in." WonderyElon Musk claims cutting costs fast was the only way to stop X from dyingLaying off 80% of X's workforce, says Musk, was required to avoid a financial collapse within months of him purchasing the platform. In 2023, he claimed X would be cash-flow positive within the year as advertisers returned to the platform. BBC NewsNonstop posting by Elon Musk provides calculated political and brand messagingFor a week in August 2024, Musk posted 650 times, including reactions to far-right influencers; promotion of his AI tool, Grok; and support for controversial political takes. He livestreamed himself playing Diablo IV for hours during that same week. The GuardianListen to a podcast that explains why Elon Musk is creating a 'company town' in TexasElon Musk is recreating an old tradition of large corporations creating "company towns" where their workers can live. In his case, the town, which he is calling "Snailbrook," is being created for SpaceX and some of his other companies in Bastrop, Texas, a small community roughly 45 minutes outside of Austin. VoxElon Musk's will to launch: the early days of SpaceXRadically reducing the cost of rockets and innovating totally new space vehicles originated in the singular force of Elon Musk's vision. In this podcast, Founders creator David Senra shares what he learned reading a book about SpaceX's beginnings, highlighting Musk's audacious refusal to follow industry conventions and promotion of a culture of action and speed. Learn more insights from the founder here. Founders PodcastElon Musk joined Tesla in 2004, investing $30M and becoming chairThe company went public in 2010, raising $226 million in its IPO just two years after beginning production on its first car. Tesla's first Supercharger stations were launched in 2012 with six locations in California. TheStreetElon Musk founded SpaceX after being unable to purchase affordable rockets abroadThe company simplified manufacturing and revolutionized space travel by focusing on in-house production and reusability. Their Falcon 9 rocket's ability to land vertically and be partially reused led to 91 successful launches in 2023. 1440Elon Musk's Neuralink's N1 chip can wirelessly read brain signals from over 2,000 electrodesThe device is a battery-powered brain implant that transmits data via Bluetooth. Neuralink's near-term objectives for the device focus on unlocking new treatments for paralysis, neurological disorders, and some psychiatric conditions. WIREDElon Musk once tried to make himself CEO of OpenAIAfter three years of funding the company since its 2015 launch, Musk believed OpenAI had fallen too far behind Google and proposed taking the helm. Rejected by OpenAI's other founders, Musk walked away and reneged on a $1B donation. (Some users may experience a paywall.) SemaforElon Musk's $100M investment in SpaceX was lost to three failed rocket launchesThe attempts with Falcon 1 endangered the company's future but provided valuable information from which to iterate and follow up with the successful first privately funded orbital launch in history and multiple ISS resupply missions. FlatlifeElon Musk follows a five-step decision-making process when simplifying technologyHe begins by determining whether how something has been previously done is—in his words—"dumb," or if a certain feature should even exist, let alone be optimized. This first principles method has helped him develop some of the most valuable companies in the world. ModelThinkersSpaceX was built to achieve Elon Musk's vision of making humans an interplanetary speciesLearning quickly from early Falcon rocket failures and clashes with vendors and safety regulators, the company has focused on reusability as a first step to reaching Mars and is backed by NASA funding to do so. EsquirePalantir's executives have become increasingly involved in American politics in recent yearsPalantir's government contracts have steadily increased since Donald Trump was re-elected in 2024, moving from intelligence and defense to public health and assisting in Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency efforts. NPRDOGE was an advisory body President Trump created via executive order in his second termThe Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was not an official government department, as those can only be established by Congress. Trump created DOGE to reduce government spending, tapping Elon Musk to run it. Musk left the Trump administration and his role in DOGE in May 2025, and DOGE disbanded a few months later, in November. The informal advisory board helped cut 270,000 jobs during its time in operation. TIMEOne dad, one hundred babiesA look at the companies offering surrogacy to the ultrarich—including Chinese men taking their reproductive cues from Elon Musk. The JournalLVMH CEO Bernard Arnault was among the world's 10 wealthiest people as of early 2026With a reported net worth of about $190B, Arnault consistently ranks among the world's richest individuals. He held the number one spot on the list until early 2023, when Elon Musk overtook him. InvestopediaA lunar 'satellite catapult' revives a 50-year-old idea for launching rocketsElon Musk has proposed building a mass driver on the moon to fling satellites into space, exploiting low gravity to cut fuel and costs. The concept dates to 1970s space-settlement studies, highlighting how older industry ideas are resurfacing amid today's AI and space-infrastructure race. SpaceSee the world's top 20 billionaires in 2026This data visualization shows the 20 wealthiest people in the world as of January 2026. Topping the list with a net worth of more than $713B is Elon Musk, trailed by Larry Page ($258B), Jeff Bezos ($251B), and Larry Ellison ($243B). Visual CapitalistBluesky is gaining momentum by offering users full control over their experienceControversial changes made by Elon Musk to X have inspired an exodus from that platform and growth in Bluesky. The latter's open-source model gives users customizable feeds, portability between services, and a “billionaire-proof” design that prevents corporate takeover. CNBC TelevisionTreating X like a product instead of a public space obscures deeper issuesPublic outrage over Elon Musk's Twitter acquisition misses the point that the social platform has long failed to address hate speech, not just under Musk's ownership. Over 150,000 mentions of "leaving Twitter" were recorded over the weekend following Musk's takeover. The DrumView the list of most followed users on XX, formerly Twitter, may now face more competition from rival social networks than ever, but it also had over 650 million active users as of early 2025. Elon Musk, Barack Obama, and Cristiano Ronaldo led the list of most-followed accounts then. CreatorsJet.comThe evolution of X, from startup to Musk-owned giant, reflects rapid tech shiftsTwitter began in 2006 as a side project and grew into a major global platform, widely used for news, activism, and political discourse. Despite mainstream success, it faced ongoing management turmoil, business struggles, and rising concerns over misinformation and user safety. CNBCThe rebrand to X was to make Twitter an all-in-one social media appElon Musk renamed the platform as part of his plan to create an app that goes beyond posts and tweets. The rebrand included a new name, logo, and vision for a platform that offers messaging, video, banking, shopping, and more. BufferAmerica’s richest familiesYou could probably name a few of America's richest people, like Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg, for instance. But could you name the richest families in America, like the Waltons or the Mars family? Explore the list of 2024's richest families in America—and find out how they made their money—here. ForbesSilicon Valley’s reign over tech, money, and politicsTesla and X CEO Elon Musk, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, and others are getting into politics. From Musk’s role in President Trump’s second term to Hoffman’s spending on former Vice President Harris’ presidential campaign, more tech CEOs are expanding into politics. This podcast episode by WBUR and American Public Media discusses what the impact could be with so many tech figures engaging in American politics. Listen here. WBURAmerican billionaires' wealth, visualized America's top 20 billionaires have a combined wealth of $2.7T as of 2024. That's more than Russia's annual GDP. But some billionaires, like Elon Musk, hold a greater share of that $2.7T number than others. To see just how much money each of these 20 billionaires have in comparison to the others in the group, check out this data visualization. Visual CapitalistSpace archaeology studies space trash in the context of heritage and social meaningSome orbiting objects, such as Elon Musk's Tesla, have symbolic or historical importance, despite being functionally worthless. The oldest human-made object in Earth's orbit is Vanguard 1, a grapefruit-sized satellite launched in 1958. The strangest may be an experimental, inflatable space station containing live cockroaches. Ologies with Alie Ward Tesla plans to eliminate the use of rare earth elements in future vehiclesAt a 2023 Investor Day event, Elon Musk outlined steps to focus Tesla's efforts on climate action rather than new vehicle models. Musk estimates the transition to carbon-free, sustainable energy will cost $10T. NPRTesla open-sourced all its patents to speed up industry adoption of electric vehiclesThe company employed a disruptive strategy to transform the transportation market, but early struggles, including leadership shifts and near bankruptcy in 2008, threatened its efforts to bring electric vehicles to the mainstream. Founders California startup Rivian has attracted disillusioned Tesla ownersSome electric vehicle buyers frustrated by Elon Musk's antics have been won over by the adventure-focused company, which has received a $5B investment from the Volkswagen Group to develop crossover and hatchback models with solid-state batteries. InsideEVsSince its 2019 reveal, the Cybertruck underwent numerous delays and design changesElon Musk first envisioned the Cybertruck in 2012, with its design inspired by "Blade Runner" and "The Spy Who Loved Me." Semiconductor shortages and battery manufacturing issues made it impossible to manufacture enough vehicles to meet the 250,000 preorders without shifting delivery dates. SlashGearChatGPT was conceived over dinner at a Silicon Valley hotelA guest list of tech leaders, including Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman, met to discuss how to counter Google's efforts to create human-level cognition systems. The group initially committed a reported $1B to launch the effort. Wall Street JournalNeural implants blur the line between personal intention and machine executionA key ethical dilemma—the contemplation conundrum—explores whether implants might misinterpret mere imagination as intent to act. Neuroscientists have found no brain signal that clearly marks when someone decides to act, making intent hard to detect in neurotechnological systems. BBCWhich AI chatbot is everyone's favorite?From OpenAI's ChatGPT to rivals like Elon Musk's Grok and Google Gemini, it feels like chatbots are everywhere now. Some of them, though, are newer and less-developed than others, and all of them have different proficiencies. This leaderboard has collected more than 400,000 votes to rank each chatbot in order of preference, and you can also add your own vote to the mix. Hugging FaceOvercoming industry skeptics, SpaceX provides low-cost, high-publicity spaceflightsFrom recovering and reusing rocket components to launching a mannequin and Tesla into orbit to the tune of David Bowie's "Starman," Elon Musk drove public interest and government contracts to his company as he transformed space launches into spectacles. Space.comThe wealthiest person in every US state in 2021Alongside Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, who are the richest people in the U.S.? This map reveals the wealthiest billionaire in each U.S. state. Visual Capitalist
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